Star Bright Ranch is a non-profit animal rescue facility in Ramona, CA.  Our main mission is to care for retired and non-ridable horses.  Our supporters can make purchases through AmazonSmile with a small percentage of that sale being donated back to us.  We have qualified for this donation since early 2014 and have had uninterrupted non-profit status since May 2012.  As with many non-profits, our budget is extremely limited and we are an all volunteer organization.  Even the smallest of donations means a great deal to each and every animal.

However, in late 2014 AmazonSmile discontinued depositing our supporters' donations.  I personally shop via AmazonSmile so I know that at the very least, my purchases would qualify for a donation.  After a fairly grueling investigation it was discovered that we were erroneously dropped from IRS Pub 78.  This publication is AmazonSmile's main source of data to qualify non-profits to receive contributions.

This omission was in complete error and was due to no fault of our own.  The IRS has owned up to its mistake, sent us a letter confirming our eligibility and and has reinstated our (always) active status.

I have repeatedly requested our status, therefore, be reinstated at AmazonSmile and our earned donations be retroactively deposited.  They have refused both requests.

They insist their system must be automatically updated via data received from GuideStar.  No manual updates are accepted - even as they can verify our status at anytime by viewing IRS Pub 78 on-line.  Therefore, no donations are forthcoming and we will simply have to wait for their system to correct itself.

Keep in mind, this error was entirely upon the IRS.  Our status has never changed.  Our supporters still believe today that when they purchase through AmazonSmile a small percentage of that purchase price is being gifted back to us.  It most certainly should be.

As of today AmazonSmile is still refusing to donate the proceeds collected dating back to July 1, 2014.  And we are still not active in their system.  Despite the fact they have acknowledged they can see our status as active in IRS Pub 78.  They not only refuse to update us manually (they insist this can only be done via an upload from GuideStar which will take even more time) they refuse to honor the previous donations by paying us retroactively back to July 1, 2014.

We implore AmazonSmile to:

Pay the retroactive donations that we have always been qualified for.

Update our status in their system so we can continue to receive the donations we have always been qualified for.

Use more than one means to distinguish eligibility since IRS Pub 78 is known to have inaccuracies and AmazonSmile should not be complacent to this.

With gratitude,

Becca Campbell

President

Star Bright Ranch